In 1992, when I was 12 years old, my Croat-Serbian family left Yugoslavia to escape ethnic unrest. We relocated to the beautiful Mediterranean island of Cyprus, only to find ourselves in another ethnically divided land.

A Turkish invasion in 1974 had left the island militarily divided, with the Turkish-occupied territory in the North and the Greek Cypriot Republic of Cyprus in the South. Soon after Cyprus joined the European Union, the “green line” that acts as an unofficial border between north and south was opened — restoring free movement from one side of the island to the other.

Sensing opportunity, smugglers from Turkey began transporting refugees from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Palestine and other conflict-ridden zones into the unrecognized, Turkish-occupied northern region of the island. With easy movement across the “green line,” these refugees could now gain access to the European Union. Soon a controversy erupted over welfare benefits given to asylum seekers as they awaited decisions from the government of Cyprus about their immigration status.

In the last few years, as I’ve visited family and friends in Cyprus, I’ve sensed a growing bias against the immigrants. This Op-Doc video shows how xenophobia has grown as the economic situation has worsened.

As Cyprus now faces an economic crisis, many people have lost their livelihood. But, perhaps this dire situation also marks an opportunity: can we reshape and cultivate a more compassionate society?

Iva Radivojevic is a documentary filmmaker based in New York. She is expanding the material in this Op-Doc into a feature-length documentary, “Evaporating Borders.”